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My laptop died last night. It was a low-key, low-drama death - it simply shut itself off in the middle of a sentence. I hit the power button, then I held down the power button, but neither one made the lights come back on and the happy disk-spinny sounds wouldn't come back.
After I grabbed Downwood and begged for help, we tried taking out the battery, switching power supplies, and just letting it sit in the corner for a little while to think about what it had done. The last step is also known as "let the machine cool down because though it has always put out a lot of heat, this is a Lot Of Heat".
So I made dinner, we watched some History Channel, and he went back to work. I was in the kitchen when I heard a startled "Oh, now it's just messing with me!" from the dining room. When I went to investigate, I saw my laptop up on its side so that the V-shape was on the table and the keyboard was perpendicular to the table. And it was running.
It shut itself off again after a minute or two, so Downwood went back into the case to see if he could figure out which connection was loose.
When we went to bed, Downwood's diagnosis was that the motherboard is borked and he's going to try to deal with Alienware to get a replacement or a better diagnosis. Me? I'm just glad I had someone around who knew what to try beyond holding down the button and praying to the Almighty Darwin for an intercession.
After I grabbed Downwood and begged for help, we tried taking out the battery, switching power supplies, and just letting it sit in the corner for a little while to think about what it had done. The last step is also known as "let the machine cool down because though it has always put out a lot of heat, this is a Lot Of Heat".
So I made dinner, we watched some History Channel, and he went back to work. I was in the kitchen when I heard a startled "Oh, now it's just messing with me!" from the dining room. When I went to investigate, I saw my laptop up on its side so that the V-shape was on the table and the keyboard was perpendicular to the table. And it was running.
It shut itself off again after a minute or two, so Downwood went back into the case to see if he could figure out which connection was loose.
When we went to bed, Downwood's diagnosis was that the motherboard is borked and he's going to try to deal with Alienware to get a replacement or a better diagnosis. Me? I'm just glad I had someone around who knew what to try beyond holding down the button and praying to the Almighty Darwin for an intercession.
